[TriMama]

Is there a trick to making sure patterned fabric pieces match up? I’m making the School Days coat out of a medium weight wool blend coating. The fabric is light blue with a narrow black and white stripe that runs vertically. The back yoke and back pieces are easy to line up because they’re cut on the fold, but is there a simple way to line up the front yoke to the front piece?

I also want to make sure the stripes are lined up across the shoulder seam.

Is is just a matter of fiddling with the layout before I cut it out?

Of course, this particular piece of fabric is a remnant and I have *just* enough so I don’t want to make any cutting mistakes.

Krista

[LauraB]

Hi Krista

I made this coat out of Little Folks laminate and wanted to get the same vertical matching. I was very untechnical and cut out the front piece and then laid it back on top of the fabric to line up the front yoke, making sure it matched exactly. I had a horizontal pattern to worry about too, so had to take into account the seam allowances – you won’t need to do that with just a stripe. I took ages fiddling about before I cut, but I got it out of less fabric than the pattern specified.

The shoulder seams are bit more tricky, but I would use the neck line and notches as a guide to your fabric placement.

Not sure that is much help – I’m sure there is a more ‘proper’ way to do it!

Laura